Diqin Designer

Chapter 99 What to do next

The cool night breeze cleared up Li Nian's confused mind from reading too many bamboo slips. He was very tired and sleepy just now, but now he didn't want to sleep anymore.

Li Nian asked someone to bring a recliner, and lay outside the hall, admiring the night view while thinking about what to do next.

Now, all the reasons for the demise of the Qin Dynasty and the solutions that can be analyzed to the First Emperor have been told. Whether the First Emperor will change depends on himself, and he can no longer control it.

As he said, if the First Emperor himself was unwilling to change, it would be useless for him to say more.

"I promised the First Emperor that when he became emperor, I would give him nine things as a gift. The simplest of these are stirrups and horseshoes. I only need to draw the pictures and explain the principles, and then let the Shaofu make them."

"The method of making salt can be submitted first, and the First Emperor can send someone to verify it first."

The salt-making method that Li Nian is going to submit is the beach drying method, which is also a method of producing sea salt.

The history of using seawater to make salt is very long. It is said that it existed as early as the Yanhuang period and also existed during the Qin Dynasty. Diao Jian, a man from Qi, made his fortune from fishing salt, and his method of making salt was to boil salt from seawater.

"We also need to give the First Emperor a suitable salt field location."

Theoretically, salt can be produced wherever there is seawater, but in reality, not all locations are suitable due to factors such as geographical location and climatic conditions.

The salt field that Li Nian wanted to choose for the First Emperor had naturally been used in later generations, but the climate conditions and geographical environment of this era might be different from those of later generations. Whether those famous salt fields of later generations could be used in this era would depend on whether the First Emperor would send people to inspect them on site.

It was impossible for Li Nian to go there in person to provide guidance. It would take some time from submitting the salt-making method to verifying it and then to its large-scale use. It would probably not be completed by the day when Qin Shihuang became emperor.

"Iron smelting requires iron ore, the design of a blast furnace, and the blast furnace needs to burn refractory bricks, and coke..."

Even if Li Nian didn't want to refine steel with higher performance, it would still be a difficult job, much more troublesome than making paper and salt.

But compared to salt making, Li Nian would let the First Emperor open an iron smelting experimental base in Xianyang so that he could provide close guidance and corrections.

"First, mark the iron ore with better quality and easier to mine and give it to the First Emperor, so that he can send people to find and mine it. Iron ore can also be used to make cement."

"It is not difficult to make cement by traditional methods. We can write down the method and let the craftsmen of the Shaofu do it."

"The coal mines must also be marked for the first emperor. Coal can be used for industrial purposes such as iron smelting, but before that, I think it should be a kind of 'firewood'."

China has a long history of discovering and using coal. At that time, it was called "stone", "black stone fat", "mei", etc.

As far as Li Nian knows, Daqin is already mining coal for metal smelting, and some people in the private sector also use coal for cooking, but it has not been popularized on a large scale.

First, the amount of coal mined is limited, and second, the coal is not handled well.

If coal had become popular and a necessity in people's daily lives, it would have been regulated long ago.

Among the necessities of life, "firewood" comes first, not only because it is used to cook food, but also because it is needed to make fires for heating in the cold winter, especially in the era when there were no cotton-padded clothes.

"Winter will come in a few months. According to Guo Dian and his friends, although the winter in Daqin is not terribly cold, it is not warm either. People freeze to death every year."

Li Nian proposed to use the "honeycomb coal production method" as one of the gifts for the First Emperor, hoping that the coal could be used as firewood for the people of Daqin to use and have more warmth in winter. Of course, coal was also a necessity for the development of industry in Daqin.

"It's not difficult to make honeycomb coal. You can write down the method and give it to the Shaofu to do. Oh, and let the First Emperor send someone to publicize the precautions when burning coal. The Zhiyutai is just for this."

Thinking of the Zhiyutai, the First Emperor had never mentioned it to him before. He only revealed it to him in today's bamboo slips and asked for his opinion on it.

Li Nian didn't feel that he was not trusted, but he felt that this was what an emperor should be like. If the First Emperor trusted him completely and told him everything, it would make him panic and afraid.

I wonder if the First Emperor will use the excuse of "you know too much" to trample him to death the next moment.

Unconsciously, a strong sense of fatigue came over him. Li Nian had read too many bamboo slips today and had to reply to them. He was already exhausted, and only seemed energetic because he had temporarily survived that period of fatigue.

Now that she had relaxed, fatigue and sleepiness came over her again and Li Nian quickly fell asleep on the recliner. Guo Dian brought a quilt and covered her with it.

On the second day, a group of Shaofu craftsmen gathered in Liuying Palace. Some of them had been there several times and were looking forward to what the young master in Liuying Palace could come up with.

This young man in Liuying Palace is amazing. He is obviously not very good at working and does not know some well-known things, but he can come up with some designs that they have never seen or thought of before, and he can always explain them clearly and even they think they are reasonable.

Moreover, this young master was unlike other nobles they had met. He did not have that condescending attitude but was very approachable. He spoke very carefully every time and would intentionally stop to ask them if they understood. If there was anything they did not understand, they could ask about it.

There were two wooden boards in front of the Shaofu craftsmen. This was not uncommon for Shaofu craftsmen. Every time, this young man would use the wooden boards to draw pictures and explain to them.

Today, there are two horses painted on the two wooden boards. Horses are not rare, but what is rare is that each of the two horses has something they have never seen before.

Li Nian felt a little sleepy due to lack of sleep due to staying up late as the executive vice emperor yesterday. He yawned, picked up a small stick, perked himself up, and pointed at the horse drawn on the wooden board on the left.

"This thing is called a stirrup. You should be able to see its function."

"The stirrup helps people get on the horse. By stepping on this ring, you can get on the horse's back. At the same time, it can also support the rider's feet while riding, keeping the rider stable on the horse's back."

"And for those who are good at horse riding, they can use their feet to control the horse, so they don't have to use their hands to control the horse, and their hands can be freed up to do many things."

"For example, previously a rider needed one hand to control the horse, so he couldn't use a bow and arrow, but now he can."

"For example, originally one hand was used to fight with a weapon, but now both hands can hold an extra weapon. Wouldn't that make it more threatening to the enemy?"

After talking about stirrups, Li Nian used a small stick to point to the wooden board on the right, on which was a picture of a horse with its front legs raised high, revealing its hooves.

Thanks to the time spent drawing globes and various diagrams for the First Emperor, Li Nian's painting skills have greatly improved, and this horse is really lifelike.

"You should have noticed that there is something on the horse's hoof. It is called a horseshoe, also known as a horseshoe. You can think of it as a shoe for the horse."

Put shoes on the horse?

This young master from Liuying Palace is truly amazing!

(End of this chapter)